Zoomi Life

I’ve been pretty curious lately about the XM-5000Li electric moped. X-treme Scooter’s newest e-moped for 2009, the XM-5000Li looks damn good and has some nice technical specs: a 60mph top speed, 80+ mile range, and a six hour recharge rate. But it’s hard to get any information out of X-treme past the marketing found on their website, and their products have been hit-or-miss in the past in terms of quality. Their packaging hasn’t been great either. So I’ve been really interested to find someone’s personal experience with buying and receiving the XM-5000Li.

Well, one intrepid V is for Voltage EV Forum member recently came through with a fantastic report on his experience with his XM-5000Li purchase and delivery. Forum member garygid (We’ll just call him ‘Gary’) just posted a ton of pics of his XM-5000Li arriving at his house, along with his experiences during purchasing and delivery.

Gary ordered his XM-5000Li electric moped on Monday, Jan 12th, and received it on Wednesday, Jan 23rd - eleven days after placing the order.  The moped arrived via freight company, as all X-Treme’s heavier, higher-ticket items do.  As the pictures show, the box itself is strapped to a pallet with three black straps - in this case, the pallet did come apart in shipping, but this did not cause any damage to the moped itself.

Once Gary got the moped off the truck, he removed the cardboard box and snapped these pics.  It is obvious from the packaging that X-Treme is putting a lot more effort into making sure their product gets to their customers in one piece.  This personally gives me a lot more confidence in X-Treme, as they have had a lot of problems in the past with customer complaints about product getting damaged in shipping.  This time though, it looks like X-Treme really came through.  In Gary’s words,

“The scooter really looks splendid, with everything that I can see in excellent shape. It is unlikely that there is any damage - a really well done wrapping and packing job. As you can see, this is a MUCH better shipping frame. Many good diagonal braces, added vertical bars on sides, etc. The top and sides can be un-bolted to leave just the bottom and ends of the frame, to make it easier to remove the scooter from the frame. Absolutely Splended!”

The shipping frame that the XM-5000Li comes in is made from metal and is well-reinforced. This should ensure that most XM-5000Li deliveries get to the customer in one piece. The frame is bolted together and can be disassembled with a pair of pliers. The moped itself comes well-secured to the shipping frame in several places, so it is recommended that you have a set if wire cutters, screwdrivers, and pliers in order to take the shipping frame and remove the moped from it.

Aside from his comments and pictures regarding his experience receiving and unboxing the XM-5000Li, Gary also had this to say about his new electric moped:

On the XM-5000Li the “Economy” switch is no longer on the right grip.

Possibly it was moved because one should NOT change the switch’s setting with the motor running, and that prohibition might be much more important with the 5000Li’s more powerful motor, or with the new, larger, more-powerful motor-controller.

There is a small locked compartment down between the driver’s feet. Inside, one finds a obvious light grey “pigtail” connector (a connector hanging on the end of a wire rather than being mounted rigidly in a surface) that is used for charging the scooter. Right, the charging connector is no longer under the seat, so the charger cannot be left under the seat while charging. The new 15-amp charger needs good air flow for cooling when it is operating. So, make sure that the charger gets the cooling that it requires.

However, there is also a small, less-obvious, dangling switch (on the end of a pair of wires) that is just labeled with “0″ and “1″. It appears that the “1″ setting puts the motor-controller in the “Economy Mode” of operation. Thus, a suitable name for this switch would seem to be the “Economy-Mode Switch” rather than simply a “Speed Switch”.

And if you’re looking for a step-by-step process for removing the XM-5000Li electric moped from its shipping frame, Gary gives the following detailed instructions to do so:

1. Position the frame so that there is room on its left side to stand and lift, and a lot of room on the frame’s right side to swing the scooter out a bit more than 45 degrees from the frame.

2. Remove the 16 bolts that hold the top of the frame to the bottom, removing the internal cross-piece first, then the two vertical side bars. Finally, lift off the top of the frame, setting it out of the way.

3. Bash (or cut) away at least the right side and center of the “underbelly” support part of the frame, so that the belly of the scooter will clear it better as the scooter is lifted and swung out. If two people are quite strong, and can lift the back end of the scooter higher, the “bashing” might not be necessary. I wanted the extra clearance.

4. With one person holding the scooter to steady it, undo and remove the 7 wire ties that hold the 5000Li in place (three on the lift rack, 2 on the front wheel, and two on the rear wheel).

5. Next, prepare to lift the back end. Make sure that the handlebars are not “locked” (the ignition switch should be in the “OFF” position, not the “LOCKED” position). Make sure that the brakes are unwrapped so that the disc brakes are not activated. Also, a warning: Do NOT lift by the end of the so-called “lift rack” because it is too likely to break. Instead, use the two “passenger handles” that extend forward from the main body of the lift rack.

6. Do the Lift and Swing: Carefully, but quickly, we picked up the rear end of the 5000Li and swung it out to the right side, far enough to miss the remnants of the “bashed” underbelly support.

6. Finally, we used the handlebars to lift up the front end slightly and roll the scooter backward off the shipping frame.

It really looks like X-Treme put a lot of work and thought into making sure that the XM-5000Li gets to it’s customers in one piece, and I commend them for doing so. Now if only I could get my hands on one for a while to test it out… any XM-5000Li owners out there living in Southern California and willing to give me a test drive?

[Show as slideshow]

Source: Thanks to garygid and V Is For Voltage for the amazing pics and great information.